About

History

The Voter Integrity Project of NC was founded in 2011 by Jay DeLancy and John Pizzo. Their mission was to ensure free and fair elections to all lawfully registered voters. Mr. Pizzo has more than 30 years private industry experience in the discipline of of quality engineering and holds a Six Sigma Black Belt. Mr. DeLancy is a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, with military experience in both conventional and nuclear operations with advanced degree work in journalism, business and political communication. His past teaching assignments include Park College (KS), Bluefield College (VA), Tidewater Community College (VA), Liberty University, NC State University and Duke University,

Shown L-R) John Pizzo, Jay DeLancy and a past visitor to VIPs offices, Mr. Akira Chiba, the Minister for Congressional Affairs at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, DC.

Scientific Origins

The VIP plan was simple: Mine public data, analyze that data and let the evidence speak for itself. They fashioned themselves as a “non-partisan” organization, because election laws (like the Constitution itself) should transcend political and cultural boundaries. Open and honest elections are in our nation’s best interest.

Starting with a “voter density” study of North Carolina’s 100 counties, they began publishing their research results on-line and sharing it with media, Legislators and with peers from other states.

Their second project, copied the award-winning work of the Miami Herald, who obtained the names and addresses of persons disqualified from jury duty because of their non-US citizen status. The effort of VIP led to the discovery of 130 people who had votedbeforethey were disqualified from jury duty, 11 of whom resulted in criminal referrals. This research has led to ongoing consultations with the NC State Board of Elections (NC SBoE) personnel over how best to detect non-citizens attempting to vote.

Their third project, garnering national headlines, led to the discovery of almost 30,000 deceased persons who were still registered to vote, some of whom even had voting records after their date of death. This research identified numerous “data leakage” points in the deceased-voter removal process. It also triggered consultations with election officials that resulted in process improvements for identification and removal of deceased-voters’ records.

The fourth major project of the VIP involved detection of persons voting in two states for the same Federal election. By matching 11 million Florida voters with the 77 million NC voters, VIP ultimately reported more than 150 voters who were highly likely to have committed this felony. Prosecutions are still pending, but the work has resulted in two arrests (with one voter being identified as voting in three states) and consultations with senior election officials in numerous other states. This project (called “FLANC,” as in Florida and NC) also resulted in the first VIP publication that is being sold to the public through Amazon’s marketplace.

Other major research projects are currently underway that all point to identifying areas of election law that need process improvement and prevention strategies for abuses and illegal voting activities such as voter impersonation and intimidation.

The Spirit of Our Research

At the end of the day, voting is the great equalizer among all of our civil rights. When each American citizen enters that voting booth, we all are equal, regardless of skin color, party affiliation, social status, religious beliefs, etc. Every time another voter fraudulently takes a second vote, our votes (and our civil rights) are violated. At the same time, public trust in our entire system of government is weakened that much more.

What we initially began as more of a “crowd-sourced activist team” of computer scientists, auditors and analysts has grown into a talented pool of researchers who seek to mitigate election law vulnerabilities while detecting large-scale patterns ranging from haphazard methodology among election boards and staff employees to actual criminal conduct among voters.

If your electoral jurisdiction would like to benefit from some of our unique approaches to this critical national problem, feel free to please contact us!

Current Needs

We’re always looking for talented volunteers and interns, so be sure to spread the word about our organization to any of your qualified acquaintances in North Carolina.